The overall objective of this project is to obtain an understanding of deoxyribonucleotide metabolism in E. coli and E. coli infected with bacteriophage T5. Of particular interest is the role of the various phage-induced enzymes in this metabolism. A 5'-nucleotidase activity has been found to be induced by phage T5, but the induced activity is only active for a few minutes soon after phage infection and then disappears by 10 minutes after infection. Some goals of this current project are to determine, 1) the role of the 5'-nucleotidase during infection, 2) the characteristics of the phage-induced enzyme with regard to its substrate specificity, optimal activity conditions, and reaction products, and 3) the mechanism of inactivation of the enzyme. A mutant unable to induce the 5'-nucleotidase has been isolated and this is being used to study the phsyiological role of the enzyme during infection. Another area of investigation is the characterization of T5-induced mucleases involved in the degradation of the host DNA after infection. BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCE: S.M. Berget, T.J. Mozer and H.R. Warner. 1976. Ealy events after infection of Escherichia coli by bacteriophage T5. II. Control of the bacteriophage-induced 5'-nucleotidase activity. J. Virology, 18:71-79.